Jeffrey Butts Archives - John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center

All Work Products, Corrections, Douglas Evans, Gina Moreno, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products, Justice Policy Reform, Kevin Wolff, Monographs, Policy & Practice Reforms

Easily Overstated

January 1, 2020January 2, 2020by JohnJayREC

Policymakers, advocates, and even some researchers claim that youth confinement rates across the United States dropped in recent years due to changes in policy and practice. Such claims remain unproven, but voters and elected officials are inclined to accept them as factual because they are offered by reputable agencies and repeated in news media sources. Without reliable evidence, however, the notion that state-level youth confinement rates fall primarily in response to progressive policy reforms is merely appealing rhetoric.

Community Interventions, Evaluation, Gina Moreno, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products, Monographs, NYC Mayor's Action Plan, Sheyla Delgado

Opinions and Perceptions of Residents in New York City Public Housing

December 13, 2019December 13, 2019by JohnJayREC

As part of an evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice collaborated with survey specialists from NORC at the University Chicago to collect data from two probability samples of residents in public housing developments in New York City. One sample of residents came from communities involved in the MAP initiative. A second sample was from statistically matched housing developments not involved in MAP.

Data Analysis, Data Bits & Research Briefs, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products

Older Adults Responsible for Total Growth in Drug Arrests

November 11, 2019November 11, 2019by JohnJayREC

The entire increase in drug crime arrests during the past decade was due to growing numbers of arrests involving adults ages 25 and older. Youth under age 18 and even young adults under age 25 were far less likely to be arrested for drug crimes in 2018 than any time in the past two decades.

Data Bits & Research Briefs, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products

Youth Still Leading Violent Crime Drop: 1988-2018

November 6, 2019November 8, 2019by JohnJayREC

Based on the latest statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the national violent crime arrest rate declined 38 percent overall between 1988 and 2018, but the steepest declines were observed among youth ages 10 to 14 (–53%) and 15 to 17 (–54%). The arrest rate for 18-20 year-olds dropped 47 percent while the arrest rates for adults ages 21-24 and 25-49 declined 42 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

2 after slider, Articles, Corrections, Jeffrey Butts, Policy & Practice Reforms

It’s About Quality: Private Confinement Facilities in Juvenile Justice

May 13, 2019May 13, 2019by JohnJayREC

Quality youth justice systems (a) limit the use of confinement to cases where it is objectively necessary, (b) ensure the health and safety of all confined youth, (c) provide effective treatments and developmentally appropriate programming, and (d) continually monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. These goals apply to all forms of secure confinement regardless of financing or organizational configuration.

1 slider, Evaluation, Gina Moreno, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products, Monographs, NYC Mayor's Action Plan, Richard Espinobarros, Sheyla Delgado

Public Safety Trends in MAP Communities and Matched Comparison Areas

May 10, 2019December 4, 2019by JohnJayREC

Was the presence of the MAP initiative in some NYCHA developments associated with greater improvements in crime and victimization outcomes compared with the same outcomes in NYCHA developments not involved in MAP? The results presented here do not answer the question in full, but they offer an early look at efforts by the research team to generate more precise answers. Additional analyses are needed to rule out competing explanations and to examine the complex series of relationships among all the study’s variables. Based on the preliminary findings in this report, however, the results of MAP to date may be considered promising.

Angela Silletti, Anthony Vega, Community Interventions, Evaluation, Jeffrey Butts, John Roman, JohnJayREC Products, Monographs, NYC Mayor's Action Plan, Violence, Wogod Alawlaqi

Measurement Plan and Analytic Strategies for Evaluating the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety

January 11, 2019December 4, 2019by JohnJayREC

This second in a series of reports about the evaluation of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP). This Evaluation Update: summarizes the goals and methods used to evaluate the Mayor’s Action Plan; describes the quasi-experimental design used to test the outcomes and impacts of MAP as well as the data sources assembled by the research team and how they are used; and portrays a logical framework the research team used initially to identify causal pathways through which various elements of MAP were intended to achieve their desired effect.

Crime Data Analysis, Data Bits & Research Briefs, Jeffrey Butts, JohnJayREC Products

Mixed News About Youth Violence in Recent FBI Crime Data

September 26, 2018March 2, 2019by JohnJayREC

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting series tracks violent crime trends using the four offenses of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. According to the FBI, youth arrests for these offenses grew one percent between 2016 and 2017.